The suspect was initially identified as a heavyset person who appeared to be male, but a wider review of CCTV footage from previous days and witness testimony led the investigation to a woman disguised as a man.
PARIS (AP) – Interpol on Friday identified a 39-year-old woman from Ukraine as the prime suspect in a the Monaco bombing reportedly aimed at a Ukrainian tycoon with ties to Russia.
The police organization named Anastasiia Berezovska, who remains at large, in a red notice posted on its website seeking her arrest on charges of attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent and criminal conspiracy.
Monaco authorities have not identified any of the three people injured in Monday’s explosion at the entrance to an apartment building, but said they were a family and appeared to have been specifically targeted.
Media reports mentioned that Ukrainian construction magnate Vadym Yermolaiev was among the injured. He has said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago and was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.
A woman and a child were also injured. One of the victims is still in a life-threatening condition, prosecutors said Friday, also citing two other “collateral victims” who were lightly injured in the attack.
The Interpol notice says the suspect has a tattoo, possibly of a snake, on her right arm from shoulder to elbow. She says she was born in Ukraine, has dark hair and speaks German.
Morgan Raymond, the deputy prosecutor in Monaco, told a press conference that the bomb was detonated from a distance, using a remote control. The remains of the bomb are being analyzed in neighboring France, he said.
He added that the suspect was initially identified as a heavyset person who appeared to be male, wearing a dark long-sleeved T-shirt, light-colored shorts and a black bucket hat. A wider review of CCTV footage from previous days and the testimony of a witness redirected the investigation towards a woman disguised as a man.
Eric Arella, Monaco’s director of public security, held copies of the notice requested by Interpol at the press conference with the prosecutor. It included two photos of a woman wearing a white T-shirt with dark stripes, one of them on a street holding what appears to be some kind of electronic device in her left hand, following a cable.
The judicial investigation is also focused on whether the suspect had accomplices or acted on behalf of someone else.
“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the mode of operation suggest that the person who planted the device did not act alone,” Raymond said.
Two men were arrested as part of the investigation, but both were later released.
Investigators also identified a rental vehicle with German license plates used by the suspect in Monaco. The suspect’s escape route was traced, including travel from France to Italy, and then through several European countries to her country of residence. Raymond said her last known address is in Germany, “a country with which judicial cooperation is particularly active.”
German police, including special forces, searched the rented apartment near Frankfurt of a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman on Thursday in connection with the investigation, police and prosecutors said in a statement on Friday.
A vehicle used by the woman was also searched and secured, they added, and the evidence will be handed over to authorities in Monaco. They said the woman is on the run and at the moment they cannot provide more details.
The attack shocked the country on the Mediterranean coast, one of the world’s smallest sovereign states and known for its high concentration of wealthy residents. Prince Albert II of Monaco described it as “a despicable act” and said all public services had been mobilized to ensure security.
Ukraine is believed to have carried out targeted attacks and assassinations of Russian figures during the war, although those attacks have largely been confined to Ukrainian or Russian territory.
In December 2024, the security service of Ukraine took responsibility for the assassination of the head of the nuclear, biological and chemical defense forces for the Russian military.
Western intelligence officials have recently said that Russia has raised a campaign of targeted killings since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
By JOHN LEICESTER and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press. GEIR MOULSON in Berlin contributed to this report.
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